– Nothing new. Standard representation agreement. Outgoing cross-country manager Espen Bjervig responds to news’s question whether there is anything new regarding the negotiations of a representation agreement for Johannes Høsflot Klæbo in the last three weeks. – Although I think it would have been easiest for both parties if there had been a long-term agreement. But now it is what he wants to use, Bjervig elaborates. – Does that mean that the agreement has been signed on your part and that both parties have signed it? – Everyone who is not in the team signs this when they have been selected to go, preferably two days before departure for the World Cup. This applies to everyone who is not on the national team, says Bjervig. – Has there been any communication between you since Klæbo left for Livigno? – Yes, we have talked together. But it is as I said, Johannes wants to go for a standard agreement and the conditions contained in it. We have to respect that. When Klæbo now instead receives a standard representation agreement, it means that he is treated the same as all runners who have not been selected for the national team – with commercial freedom between each World Cup weekend. Back and forth The answers from the cross-country manager involve a new complete reversal. On Friday 13 October, the parties had apparently reached an agreement. – Yes, the case is out of this world. This solution has been there all along, Bjervig told news then. Just before that, Klæbo had sent out a press release, in which he wrote that he wanted to say yes to an offer that Bjervig had outlined in Dagbladet earlier that week. It was an agreement which meant that Klæbo could enter and exit a standard representation agreement during the winter in connection with World Cup races. Klæbo had initially negotiated a longer-term and larger representation agreement. Two days later, on Sunday 15 October, the counter notification came. Bjervig wanted new talks with Klæbo. Since then, there has been public silence regarding any talks between the parties – until Bjervig now confirms that there will be no further negotiations. Will not comment Klæbo’s communications adviser, Lasse Gimnes, tells news that they stand by their previous statements and points out that Klæbo has agreed to go to the World Cup with a standard agreement. – We stand for the same as was said in October. And we consider the negotiations to be finished, he repeats. – Has the Ski Association tried to get in touch with you while Klæbo is in Livigno? – We do not want to comment on that, says Gimnes. – This is a defeat for the Norwegian Ski Association. This is not the situation they planned to get into at all, says news’s sports commentator Jan Petter Saltvedt. He then refers to the starting point that this has been a discussion throughout the summer and autumn. In April, Johannes Høsflot Klæbo said no to being part of the Norwegian national cross-country team. According to the Skiing Association’s common rules, this would have meant that last season’s World Cup winner would not be allowed to compete in international competitions in the coming winter. The regulations: “Must not be taken out” There it says: “Runners who have refused an offer to participate in NSF’s national team, must not be taken out by NSF to represent NSF in competitions in the season in which the offer of a place in the national team applies, unless special circumstances exist.” The cross-country committee of the Norwegian Ski Association has indeed proposed to remove this rule, but was rejected by the Ski Board at a meeting on 25 April. “The ski board members discussed cross-country skiing’s proposal. Understanding was shown for cross-country skiing’s wishes, but other committee leaders and ski board members argued that today’s exception provision should be comprehensive,” the minutes from the meeting state. – What special circumstances underlie this? – It is not me who decides. You have to talk to Torbjørn Skogstad and the cross-country committee about that, says Espen Bjervig Bjervig. – Does that mean that Klæbo, who has turned down the national team, is treated the same as everyone else who is not in the national team with a view to selection for the World Cup? – Yes. In the spring, an agreement was negotiated where Klæbo was subject to the same commercial rules as the national team runners throughout the season, with two off periods in the season. REACTS: news’s sports commentator Jan Petter Saltvedt. Photo: Lars Thomas Nordby / news – Appears disloyal Jan Petter Saltvedt thus perceives that Klæbo has received an agreement that goes against the Ski Association’s own rules. – They can hardly have an overview of the potential consequences of making such a public commitment based on the national team obligation rule, says Saltvedt, who believes the Klæbo solution will create reactions among those who voted to keep the rule at the Ski Board meeting in April. – It appears as a thought disloyal to the explicit decision adopted by the ski board in April. This is what they said they were not interested in. The paradox comes when the ski president himself has disregarded it and said that Klæbo can still go, so they have a bit to answer for, says the sports commentator. He refers to the fact that ski president Tove Moe Dyrhaug immediately after the board meeting in April guaranteed that Klæbo would be allowed to go to the World Cup. – The cross-country management will sit down with him and find out those needs. If he qualifies, he goes to the World Cup in the winter. There is no doubt, said Dyrhaug to news.
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– This is a defeat – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
